Alchemy Formula: Gold Bar

Overview

Alchemy Formula: Gold Bar is a consumable crafting recipe in Crimson Desert. It is a document detailing the method for creating Gold Bars, the most precious metal in the world and the very source and core of wealth. Learning this recipe is required before you can craft Gold Bars through alchemy at a Witch NPC.

Where to Find

The formula is found inside the Spire of Insight, a puzzle tower located in the Steel Mountains in the southeastern part of the Hernand region, directly south of Pororin Village. The recipe scroll is pinned on a shelf on the third floor of the tower.

To reach the recipe, you need to complete the Spire's puzzles. The tower entrance is blocked by thorny brambles that must be burned away using Blinding Flash with Focus Light. Each floor presents a puzzle solved by finding specific objects shown on book pages and placing them in a golden pot. The Gold Bar formula is accessible on the third floor, and you can grab it and teleport out if you wish. However, completing the full tower is recommended for the Abyss fast travel point at the top.

Spire of Insight Puzzle Summary

Floor	Items Needed
Entrance	Burn brambles with Focus Light, clear bandits, place pebble in pot on front door
Ground Floor	Pick up gravestone from back of room, place in center pot
First Floor	Find telescope (back right) and pen tip (small room in back corner), place both in pot
Second Floor (Recipe here)	Gold Bar recipe on shelf; puzzle requires celestial, small map rotor, and sundial in pot
Top	Abyss fast travel point

Alternative Source: Pailune Witch's Hideout

A hidden Witch's hideout south of the city of Pailune offers an easier alternative to the Spire of Insight for picking up the Gold Bar formula. The hideout sits in a small cave tucked into a cliff face, with no map icon or minimap indicator, so you have to know exactly where to look.

Once you have liberated Pailune during the main story, fast travel to the Pailune city Abyss Nexus and mount your horse. Follow the main road south, passing the main gate exit. Keep your eyes on the right side of the road for a row of fallen logs at the edge of a small cliff.

Fast travel to the Pailune City Abyss Nexus and mount up.
Ride south down the main road toward the main gate exit.
Watch the right-hand side of the road for fallen logs at the top of a small cliff.
Ride your horse up the slope toward the cliff line and look for a set of stone stairs. There is no minimap icon for the entrance.
Follow the stairs into the cave to find the witch's hideout.

Inside the hideout you will find a Tea Recipe on a nearby shelf along with several alchemy flowers that can be gathered for crafting. The Gold Bar alchemy formula is tucked onto a bookshelf behind the Tea Recipe. Interact with the scroll to pick it up, then equip it from your inventory and use your Lantern on the glowing blue text to register it in your Knowledge menu, just like the Spire of Insight copy.

This option is generally faster than the Spire of Insight because you can skip the multi-floor puzzle sequence. If you have already liberated Pailune and have a horse ready, you can be in and out of the hideout in under a minute. The Spire of Insight is still worth visiting for the Abyss Nexus fast travel point at the top of the tower, but only after you already have the formula in hand.

How to Learn

After picking up the scroll, equip it from your inventory and use your Lantern on the glowing blue text to permanently register the formula in your Knowledge menu. The physical scroll can then be sold. Also look around the room for additional crafting books before leaving.

What it Unlocks

Learning this formula enables three crafting methods for Gold Bars:

Blacksmith smelting: 100 Gold Ore at any blacksmith (inefficient)
Witch alchemy: 3 Brimstone + 3 Mercury + 10 Silver Ore (recommended)
Witch alchemy: 3 Gold Ore + 1 Golden Apple (rare ingredient)

Details

Property	Value
Category	Consumable
Type	Crafting Recipe
Location	Spire of Insight (3rd floor)